Russian gold-winning figure skating pair plan to appear in team tournament at 2018 Games

SOCHI, February 13, 0:45 /ITAR-TASS/. Russian figure skaters Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov plan to stay in elite sports and to be entered in the team tournament at the XXIII Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, as a minimum, the pair said Wednesday after winning gold in the individual tournament at the Sochi Olympic Games.

“We’re not medal-thirsty and if our younger competitors continue making substantial progress, we’ll be glad to see it,” Maxim said. “We’ll now take some time off the skating rink, of course, but we plan to be back on the ice by 2018.”

“The main thing is to keep up health and willingness,” he said. “We plan to perform in the team tournament (at the 2018 Games) at any rate.”

Tatiana Volosozhar was born May 22, 1986, in Dnepropetrovsk, a city in southeast Ukraine, then a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. Maxim Trankov was born October 7, 1983, in Perm. The pair are three-times champions of Europe and winners of the Grand Prix in the 2012/13 season.

Maxim Trankov is also a three-time medalist of European championship in a pair with Maria Mukhortova, while Tatiana Volosozhar won many times the championships of Ukraine in a pair with Stanislav Morozov.

Another Russian pair, Ksenia Stolbova and Fyodor Klimov won silver.

Ksenia (Feb. 7, 1992) and Fyodor (Sept. 7, 1990) were both born in St Petersburg (Leningrad). They got silver in the European championships in 2014 and were bronze medalists in 2012.

Also, the pair are medalists of the Grand Prix stages in Detroit (2013/14 season) and Shanghai (2012/13 seasons).

Bronze in pairs was taken by Alyona Savtschenko and Rogin Scholkovy of Germany.